Eye Movement Strategies in Schizophrenia: A Window to Frontal Lobe Dysfunctions?

Abstract

Abstract: It is examined, to what extent a process analysis of eye movements during the performance of neuropsychological tests can contribute to a more exact differentiation of schizophrenics' cognitive disturbances, to the operationalization of such disturbances by means of objective and quantifiable behavior parameters and thus can serve a more valid investigation of the neurobiological basis of cognitive disturbances. Therefore, disturbances in planning behavior, which are often taken as characteristic for frontal lobe disorders and which are also described in schizophrenia, were experimentally modeled by means of analyses of eye movement strategies during the performance of a visuo-manumotor tracking task. Repeated assessments in different stages of the disorder in comparison with depressive and healthy controls were used to investigate the state-/trait characteristic and the nosological specificity of these disturbances. The results support the view of a limited capacity for parallel processing in schizophrenics and point to reduced cognitive flexibility as an important determinant of this dysfunction. The identification of these dysfunctions on the basis of visual scan paths analyses proves the usefulness of this method for the differentiation and objective assessment of schizophrenics' cognitive dysfunctions in neuropsychiatric investigations.